Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) YIFY - Download Movie TORRENT

Reviewed by lasttimeisaw 8 / 10

worth cherry-picking by Jarmusch newbies and diehards alike

Conflating the samurai tenet within a tailing-off gangster underworld in an unnamed USA city, Jim Jarmusch's version of LE SAMOURAI is profoundly branded with his idiosyncrasies: a nocturnal cityscape tinged with retro-flair (mostly seen behind the wheels), a vibrating, mind-bending, killer soundtrack (courtesy to RZA), a perversity and absurdity presiding over the turn of events (cartoon hooked mobsters, a lethal shot fired from a drain pipe, the cameo of Gary Farmer's Nobody from DEAD MAN 1995, etc.), a tangy timbre of acedia inhabits in some of his dramatis personae (the boss's daughter portrayed with crashing nonchalance by a sylph-like Tricia Vessey) and a total abandon of anhedonia (twice, the dog's gaze is the self-reflexive bellwether of a preordained corollary).Ghost Dog (Whitaker), a self-claimed retainer of the world-weary mobster Louie (Tormey), who has saved his life eight years ago, is a proficient hit-man abiding by the codes of HAGAKURE: THE BOOK OF THE SAMAURAI, written by Yamamoto Tsunetomo in the early 18th century, living alone in the top of a building with a bevy of messenger pigeons, his disciplined life and allegiance is challenged when the local mafia boss Ray Vargo (a deadpan Silva) and his right-hand man Sonny Valerio (Gorman), both superiors of Louie, decide to do away with Ghost Dog as a scapegoat for a mission he has adroitly accomplished, a fatuous move because they have no inking of Ghost Dog's credentials, who will become their imminent nemesis, save the wobbling Louie, who is inadvertently submitted to the receiving end of Ghost Dog's undivided loyalty, chiming in with the RASHOMON (a book which undergoes a ritualistic full circle in the end) motif, even their recollections of their first encounter are different (with clear visual aid here), which shrewdly explains the discrepancy of their attitudes, for Louie it may be merely a self-defense, yet for Ghost Dog, he roundly leaves his own life to the mercy of Louie. An artistically knowing discord looms large between Ghost Dog's zippy choreography and efficiency to rub out his over-confident but ponderous, long-in-the-tooth rivals and a languid but cordial narrative arc encompassing Ghost Dog, his best friend Raymond (De Bankolé), a francophone-only Haitian ice-cream vandor, and a prepubescent bookworm Pearline (Winbush), to whom Ghost Dog eventually lends HAGAKURE, a deed of passing on his mantle. Forest Whitaker superbly channels a less laconic Alain Delon in the titular role, but is far more superior in transmitting a loner's variegated inscape, hewing to his codes of honor and living by liquidation of mortals, but it doesn't necessarily negate that he can have a warm soul underneath, and truly, the warmth quotient increases whenever there is a scene between him and Isaach De Bankolé's motormouth Raymond, the latter is the bees knee for a sore eye, amusingly and edifyingly, Jarmusch points up that human beings can build a communicative bond in spite of a seemingly insurmountable language barrier, and it is this humanistic perspective gives the film an edge over its built-in romanticism of indiscriminately adhering to something exotic and gnomic, so at large, GHOST DOG is worth cherry-picking by both Jarmusch newbies and diehards.

Reviewed by sansay 8 / 10

Absolutely beautiful

Reviewed by TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews 8 / 10

Interesting and deep, but not as deep as it tries to be

This is a great film; it has pretty much everything a great film needs: a great score, great actors, great performances, etc. The film revolves around Ghost Dog, perfectly portrayed by Forest Whitaker. He is a assassin who lives by the code of the Samurai. Apart from him, we also follow the fate of several mafia men(though nowhere near as intimately as we follow Ghost Dog). These two very different groups, Samurai and mafia, are both depicted reasonably well, giving us insight to how the groups work, and, more importantly, their code. Both groups live and die by the code, and this is probably the most important thing in the movie, and it's shown with respect with both Samurai and mafia; I'm not entirely sure that it's correct all the way through, but that's not what's most important, anyway. The film has reasonably little action, but it's not supposed to be an action film, by any means. It's fairly slow throughout the film, but it never really bores you to the point of not watching any more; I've seen the film at least five times now, so believe me, I know. The film is very stylized and cool throughout, which definitely has some part in keeping you interested, but the theme and story/plot plays a bigger part, I think. The plot is pretty good, and though it keeps a fairly slow pace throughout the film, it also keeps your interest for the entire duration of the film. The acting is all good, though not everyone pulls off as excellent a performance as Whitaker. Isaach De Bankolé portrays Ghost Dog's best friend, and he does gives a great performance. So does Camille Winbush, who portrays a girl who Ghost Dog befriends and discusses books with. The characters are well-written and(mostly) credible. I'm not entirely sure that the film does provide a totally correct version of the Code of the Samurai. The soundtrack is great; it's made by the hip-hop artist RZA, but most of it will be enjoyable to people who aren't into hip-hop. Also, I guess it's more of a score than a soundtrack; there isn't any time where the music feels out of place in a scene. All in all, a great film, but not for all tastes. Don't go in expecting an action film; don't go in expecting a very deep an entirely intellectual film; don't go in expecting a regular movie; go in expecting to see a decent(if not good) representation of both the mafia code and the Samurai code. I've heard some people describe the ending as an anti-climax; I don't know what they were expecting... I won't say that I saw it coming, but I wasn't disappointed when it happened. It had to end it, and I think the director, Jim Jarmusch made a good decision on that. I recommend this film to people with an interest in Samurai, fans of Jarmusch and people looking for a reasonably deep film. I don't recommend this to fans of action movies, as there's fairly little action in the film. No matter who you are, if you're going to see this film, make sure you have the patience for it; it's worth sitting through the two reasonably slow hours for. 8/10

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

1999

Action / Crime / Drama / Thriller

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

1999

Action / Crime / Drama / Thriller

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Movie Reviews

worth cherry-picking by Jarmusch newbies and diehards alike

Absolutely beautiful

Interesting and deep, but not as deep as it tries to be

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